The Paul Lynde Show is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC. The series starred comedian Paul Lynde and aired for one season, with original episodes airing from September 13, 1972, to March 14, 1973. Setting The series starred Lynde as Paul Simms, a general-practice attorney and the father of a family that consisted of his wife Martha (Elizabeth Allen) and daughters Barbara (Jane Actman) and Sally (Pamelyn Ferdin). The Simms family lived in the fictional city of Ocean Grove, California. It also starred John Calvin as Barbara's husband, Howie Dickerson, an eccentric university student who was of genius intelligence (IQ 185) and was a whiz with everything and full of advice, but inexplicably, he could not manage to hold down a job, and Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara as Howie's divorced parents, Barney and Grace Dickerson. Howie's misadventures around the house and his lack of steady employment brought his father-in-law to a state of slow-burn anger and drove him to distraction. Critics perceived the show as derivative of All in the Family, then television's most popular primetime program, and the Paul Simms role bore similarities to Lynde's best-known film role, that of Harry MacAfee from the film and musical Bye Bye Birdie. For his role in the series, Lynde was nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe. Cast Paul Lynde as Paul Simms Elizabeth Allen as Martha Simms John Calvin as Howie Dickerson Jane Actman as Barbara Simms Dickerson Pamelyn Ferdin as Sally Simms James Gregory as T.R. Scott Anne Meara as Grace Dickerson Allison McKay as Alice Jerry Stiller as Barney Dickerson Herb Voland as T.J. McNish Thelma Carpenter as Thelma Mabel Albertson as Mabel Charlotte Rae as Aunt Charlotte Production The show was based on the play Howie, about a lawyer, played by Lynde, whose daughter marries a slacker named Howard, or "Howie". The Lynde character despises him as he is not interested in earning money or traditional pursuits. Howie was developed for CBS in 1962, as a replacement for The Dick Van Dyke Show, but when that series was saved from cancellation, plans for Howie were shelved. William Asher later resurrected the Howie concept for ABC and Screen Gems as a replacement for Bewitched. Asher and then-wife Elizabeth Montgomery were contractually obligated for two more seasons of Bewitched for ABC. Montgomery was not interested in continuing the series (she and Asher were also on the